Waiting on the World to Change
by princess-of-queens
Summary: A twist on the classic Ninja Turtle origin story.


It was a cold and rainy fall day in New York City. A small rat sniffed around a dumpster, looking for a meal. He ignored the sounds of the busy city, he barely noticed the car horns and people anymore. The rat was thin and in poor health, he had never been on his own before. The rat, up to this point, had been a pet to an honest and kind man named Hamato Yoshi. Yoshi was a master in many forms of martial arts, but he was best known for his rare and amazing Ninjutsu skills. The old rat had learned the art of Ninjutsu from Yoshi over many years of watching and studying his every move.

Yoshi came to America from Japan with his pet rat, Splinter, in hopes to start a new life after his family was destroyed by his long time enemy, Oroku Saki. Saki use to be like a brother to Yoshi but his heart turned dark and his mind was no longer sound. Yoshi had no idea how twisted Saki was until he came to New York City looking for Yoshi.

It did not take him long to find Yoshi, it was no secret that Saki had men all over the city. Splinter watched helplessly was his master battled the cold hearted ninja. Saki's cheating ways allowed him to win the battle and he killed Yoshi without a second thought, leaving Splinter with no home and nowhere to go.

Although smarter than the average rat, Splinter found it hard to live on his own in a city so large. He struggled to find food and shelter. The bitter rain send a chill down to the old rat's bones as he gave up his search for food. He ran along the sidewalk, staying out of sight from the humans. He smelled a restaurant nearby and knew that there would be food in their trash. As he stopped under a mailbox to catch his breath and take a break from the pouring rain, Splinter noticed a small child running along the sidewalk. He held a small glass container in his hands with four newly hatched turtles in it. Splinter tilted his head and looked closely at the turtles as the boy came to stop at a crosswalk, waiting for the cars to stop.

Splinter inhaled deeply in worry as the small boy stepped out into the road and tripped, the container holding the hatchlings falling to the ground and shattering. Before the boy had time to pick them up, the rain water started carrying them down toward a storm drain on the street corner. Without thinking, Splinter lunged forward and ran across the street and dove into the drain after the turtles. The old rat sighed in relief when he found the turtles sitting on the edge of the sewer floor, just out of the rain water's reach as in flowed down the sewer tunnel like a river. Hissing lightly when he noticed that the turtles were laying in an odd smelling green ooze, Splinter gently picked up each one of the turtles, one by one, and washed them off in the water.

The green ooze was thick and hard to get off of the turtles skin and shells. Splinter was tired and his body started to tremble, he could not help but blame the ooze for his weakness. Yawning as he looked down and saw that he had only one turtle left to clean, Splinter hummed in delight. The last turtle was the smallest and the youngest. While the other three looked at least a couple weeks, if not a month old, this little one looked as if he had only hatched a day or two ago. His skin was a rare color of green that Splinter had never seen before and his eyes were large, bluer than the sky.

Before the old rat could wash the youngest turtle, the rain started pouring down harder and the tunnels started to fill up with more water. Splinter panicked and quickly started taking the turtles to higher ground to a place he knew they would be safe, his nest. But due to his size, Splinter could only take one turtle at a time. Splinter was able to get the first three to his nest quickly and he returned for the smallest one, the baby turtle was being washed down stream. Splinter jumped into the water and swam after the youngling, he heard the little turtle croak and chirped, as if to call for help. Ignoring the fact that his own body was giving up due to his health, Splinter swan after the turtle. But his efforts to save the youngling were pointless. Splinter had no choice but to end his search and return to the other turtles who needed him. He had failed the small hatching and he broke his heart.

* * *

Unable to safe himself, the small turtle continued to float down the strong river of rain water. It took his entire strength to keep his head above water to breath. His cries for help seemed to go unnoticed. The young turtle felt a spark of hope once the water stopped rushing and slowed down just enough for him to swim to the edge of the sewer and crawl on the elevated side out of the water. He laid on the dirty cold floor, trying to catch his breath. Even though he was tired, he still tried to call to the other turtles, wondering where they were. He heard a hissing approach him from the darkness. His large blue eyes searched around him, hoping to find his brothers or the rat that tried to save him.

A large, fully grown alligator appeared out of the shadows and looked down at the turtle. His sharp eye noticing the green ooze that still covered his shell. The alligator lowered his head and picked up the turtle in his jaws, ingoing the chirping and cries of the small hatching. Living in the sewers, the alligator had to eat anything and everything he could in order to survive. But as the turtle landed on his tongue, the green ooze rubbed off on the alligator's mouth, causing him to spit the turtle out. The turtle whimpered as he hit the ground. He hid himself in his shell, scared that the alligator would attack him again. The alligator growled as he smacked his teeth together, trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

Although the alligator could have left, he didn't. He watched the turtle, studying him and wondering what the green ooze was. He could tell that the turtle had fallen asleep inside his shell and probably

Would not wake until morning. The alligator was older and was very wise, he had been a human pet before being flushed down the toilet. He had lived down in the sewers for many years since. He thought he had seen just about everything until today. The ooze had finely left his mouth but he still felt it in him. He knew something big was about to happen.

* * *

_**18 Years Later** _

* * *

Splinter was amazed by the effects the ooze had on him and the turtles. The old rat was now four feet tall and he was very intelligent. His struggle for food and other needs were no longer an issue. He could find food easier and quicker. His new size did not affect his ability to go unseen by the humans. He used every skill he learned from Yoshi to stay unseen and unnoticed, staying close to the shadows and allowing himself to become one with his surroundings. He was able to keep himself very well feed, as well as the turtles he had raised. Although it only took a couple of days for Splinter to reach his full size and intellect, the turtles had been growing since the day Splinter found them. Splinter noticed that his turtles growing pattern matched the growth of a human child. He knew they still had a lot more growing to do, psychical and mentally. But he had taught his sons everything he knew, including Ninjutsu.

Splinter had named his sons after the greats of the Renaissance. He knew that the birth of his rare and great sons was the start of a new age.

At eighteen years old, the turtles now were taller than most humans. The eldest of the three, Leonardo, was the tallest, standing easily and six foot or more. He was very smart and learned quickly on new things. Splinter was very impressed with his nature skills and abilities. He had master Ninjutsu and now helped his father train his two younger brothers. Leonardo had a very kind and gentle heart, he would do anything to help his brothers and his master. Splinter never needed to teach Leo about reasoning and responsibly, the big hearted turtle seemed to know and understand his duties and actions without guidance.

Raphael, the second oldest, had proven to the toughest and strongest of the other two. He was a couple inches shorter than Leo, but made up for it in bulkiness. Although Raph was not the smartest of his brothers, he was the first one to step into action and take point. He was always ready for a fight, and sometimes roughhousing with his brothers wasn't enough. Splinter never could understand the rage inside Raphael but he knew there was a reason behind it. He tried his hardest to be better than Leo in their Ninjutsu training, but his clouding vision of beating his brother was his downfall.

The youngest of the three was Donatello. Donatello was a genius and one was the brightest minds to walk the earth. He could make anything out of a pile a scrape. He built his own computer at age ten and learned how to heck into the cities systems and internet just shorty after. His fighting skills were normal, but not grand compared to his brothers. His brain was faster than its muscles in most cases. He learned to speak Japanese after mastering perfect English and English grammar. Don was a very shy turtle, never raising his voice and speaking out of line. He always showed manners to his father and brothers, even when playing pranks and jokes on each other.

Splinter had moved his family to the sewers once he started to realize the effects the ooze had on them. It started out as a regular hanger that the humans blocked off from the rest of the sewer. But Splinter turned into a home for his sons. Once Leo and his brothers were older, they fixed up the place. They painted, added rooms, and even cleaned. Raph and Leo would travel to the junkyard at night and bring back things for Don to fix. They managed to fill the lair with everything they could ever want and need, right down to a toilet and dishwasher.

Sometimes Splinter would allow his sons to explore the surface, using their Ninjutsu skills to stay out of sight. They used the rooftops and alleyways. They studied the humans and how they lived. They even helped people with robbers and muggers. They made it their job to protect the city.

Splinter was very proud of his three sons and he loved them dearly, but he could help but think back to the small hatching he failed to save. He have never told his sons of their baby brother. He knew that one day he would have to tell them. One day they would learn that there was a fourth turtle.


End file.
